During a Norah O'Donnell report, on Friday's Today, about how well books written by the likes of Sarah Palin, George W. Bush and Glenn Beck are selling, the New York Times' Jenny Schuessler rationalized the only reason conservative books are outpacing liberal ones is because "conservatives have some really strong media personalities" like Beck and Bill O'Reilly " that have a platform that they can promote their books from." There's just one flaw in that piece of logic, something O'Donnell failed to point out, liberals including her fellow NBC colleague Keith Olbermann, who has a nightly "platform" on MSNBC, routinely... continue reading
On the December 2 "Morning Joe," "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl deplored the GOP stiff-arm to Democratic lame-duck legislation, complaining that it wiped out the conciliatory tone of the Republicans' meeting with President Obama. She referred to the GOP strategy as "the maneuvering that I think is such a turnoff." "If you're up here after the White House meeting saying 'Yes, they can be civil to each other,' and it's just a tone. We know it's a tone. And then it's dashed," she mourned. "After the meeting with the President, everybody - I think, I think - in the country... continue reading
On Friday, the CBS Early Show failed to make any mention of New York Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel being censured by the House of Representatives on Thursday for 11 ethics violations. ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today did cover the historic punishment, but adopted a very sympathetic tone toward Rangel. In a slightly extended news brief on Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos described the censure as "an unusual moment," seeming to lament that Rangel "had to accept the punishment." Correspondent Jonathan Karl remarked that Rangel "was defiant right to the end" and "told reporters this was a very... continue reading
Framing the debate through a liberal prism hostile to continuing the current income tax rates, ABC and CBS worried Thursday night about the "cost" of not raising taxes, as if all money belongs to the government, as both expounded on how not ending the Bush rates will fuel massive deficits. "If all the Bush tax cuts end for the top two percent of earners, $700 billion will be added to government coffers," CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric warned, and "if all the cuts stay in place, the deficit will soar by $3.7 trillion over ten years." ABC anchor Diane... continue reading
Chris Matthews, on Thursday's Hardball, assailed Republican Congressman John Boehner for, in his view, trashing the planet because the soon-to-be Speaker of the House announced the slashing of the House committee on global warming. Making fun of his smoking habit the MSNBC host derisively theorized that Boehner was going to treat the "whole planet" like he does his "ashtray." The following Matthews outburst was aired during the Sideshow segment on the December 2 edition of Hardball: CHRIS MATTHEWS: Don't expect much House debate next year over climate change. Republicans just announced that they're eliminating, altogether, the House Select Committee on... continue reading
A worried George Stephanopoulos on Thursday again pushed for Republicans to accept some sort of Democratic compromise on extending unemployment benefits and the Bush tax cuts. The Good Morning America host even hit a Republican Congressman for his "double standard" on the issue. Stephanopoulos interviewed incoming House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen. Yet, despite the fact that it was Republicans who won an overwhelming victory in November, Stephanopoulos hectored Camp on extending jobless benefits. He lectured, " Congressman Camp, this is a lifeline for the people on unemployment right now... continue reading
MSNBC's Morning Joe panel hit the Republican congressional leadership Wednesday for not admitting its faults in dealing with the President the past two years. After playing a video clip of leading House Republicans Eric Cantor and John Boehner praising President Obama for his admission of not having reached out enough to the GOP, Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough challenged the GOP to do the same. "And now the polite thing to do...is to say 'And you know what? We could have reached out more, too'," ex-Republican congressman Scarborough said of the congressional GOP. "That would have cost them nothing," he... continue reading
Appearing on Tuesday's O'Reilly Factor on FNC, columnist Charles Krauthammer described his role on the political panel show 'Inside Washington': "...it's a very liberal show....it's tag team wrestling in which I don't have a team. It's three on one which I think the odds are rather good that way - for me....we do this exercise every week and it's a good workout." Host Bill O'Reilly brought up a recent discussion on the broadcast in which Krauthammer called out his liberal colleagues: "You were surrounded by a liberal panel and they were talking about Sarah Palin, which as you pointed out... continue reading
CNN's Eliot Spitzer blasted Senate Republicans on Wednesday's Parker-Spitzer for their promise to hold up legislation unless the current tax rates are extended: " Every one of us ...[is] being held hostage by 42 Republican senators ." Predictably, co-host Kathleen Parker agreed with Spitzer to a point, and snarked, " I got stuck on the image of being held hostage by 42 Republicans- talk about a bad date ." The former Democratic governor of New York led the 8 pm Eastern hour of the program with his rant against the senators. After twice using his "hostage" term, which likens the... continue reading
Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Thursday tried to disguise a Democratic activist as just a jobless American who would be hurt by Republican failure to extend unemployment benefits. Shipman sympathetically recounted that Edrie Irvine, who she didn't explain spoke at a Nancy Pelosi press conference on Wednesday, "never thought her very livelihood would depend on a political debate in Congress." A graphic reading "unemployed" appeared onscreen as Irvine complained, "They are talking about tax cuts for the rich and are holding people like me hostage." Who is Ms. Irvine? According to her bio on the leftist Democracy For America... continue reading